Saturday News: Trump’s 100 Days Seriously Damaging “Norms of American Government,” Among Other Disasters; Climate March Today

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, April 29. By the way, I’m not a big David Brooks fan, but I do think this is very funny: Trump’s “a failure, but I’m looking at opportunities for growth; it’s like when you have a student who gets an ‘F,’ you say, oh you got a ‘D minus,’ much better, so I’m looking on the bright side. If you go from dangerous to fickle, I think that’s a good move.” Funny, although I’m not convinced Trump’s actually gone up from F to D minus.

• North Korea test-fires ballistic missile in defiance of world pressure
• A Hundred Days of Trump (“With his nativist and purely transactional view of politics, he threatens to be democracy’s most reckless caretaker.” And corruption and gross incompetence and gratuitous nastiness and…)
• Robert B. Reich column: The first 100 days — Trump and the degradation of the presidency
• Trump, Putin and the New Cold War (“What lay behind Russia’s interference in the 2016 election—and what lies ahead?”)
• Mr. Trump Goes to Washington (“’The dysfunction in this White House,’ a Republican told me, ‘just knows no bounds.’”)
• 100 Days of Noise From Donald Trump (“His administration could play as comedy, if not for its vast capacity to harm.”)
• Congress at 100 Days: Frenetic Action but Few Achievements
• Trump’s faulty trade math may not make America greater, or richer
• A deep dive into Trump’s elaborate fantasyland (“In it, everything goes according to plan.”)
• Trump has already started building a legacy. It’s highly negative. (Francis Fukuyama: “The Trump administration is seriously damaging the norms of American government.”
• Will House Republicans Ever Pass Trumpcare? (“At what point will Republicans finally either move on Trumpcare or give up for good?”)
• Why Trumpcare Keeps Failing
• The past 48 hours in Trump’s bizarre, ever-changing North Korea policy, explained (“‘Beats the fuck out of me,’ said one expert when asked about the administration’s recent actions.”)
• DeMint to be ousted from Heritage Foundation (Hahahahahaha, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!)
• White House eyeing Clarke for Homeland Security post (Ee gads, no!)
• He can’t pass it. He can’t abandon it. Donald Trump has walled himself in. (“Turning Trump’s biggest promise into policy threatens to pit his party against his base.”)
• Trump’s first 100 days destroyed the myth that government should be run like a business (“His disregard for how to play the game means he’s left Washington mostly untouched.”)
• Bill Maher’s advice to liberals: ‘Stop trying to win over Trump voters with facts — you’re wasting your breath’ (He’s right on this.)
• NYT: Climate change impact is happening now. NYT: Eh, maybe not that big a deal.
• What Trump Has Done (“A 100-days checkup on policies, from health care to immigration” Lots of bad, some extremely bad, nothing good.)
• Donald Trump’s administration after 100 days: A second-rate salesman surrounded by con men and losers(“Trump has staffed the West Wing with low-grade hucksters, and his dealmaking skills are just bad poker bluffs”)
• Polling at the 100-day mark shows President Trump’s policies are widely unpopular
• Trump echoes extreme militant group in NRA speech (“Lifting heavily from one book in particular, Trump parroted a group that uses Revolutionary War language to call people to arms.”)
• Trump, who spends most weekends at a resort, thinks being president is surprisingly hard (The “white working class” SHOULD be outraged, but noooooo…)
• Trump nominates deputy Interior secretary with serious conflicts of interest (“David Bernhardt will work on policies that directly benefit clients for whom he lobbied just before getting the job.”)
• Scientists Should Just Be Political (“Only politicizing halfway doesn’t help anyone.”)
• Trump order on Atlantic oil drilling sparks Virginia backlash (“The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has an office in Charlottesville, all blasted Trump’s order as a disaster waiting to happen.”)
• Fox Contributor: Gay Men In Bars Should Expect To Be Assaulted And Women Shouldn’t Breastfeed In Church (Yep, it’s “Erick Son of Erick” again.)
• McAuliffe tries again to veto Medicaid restriction, but House will ignore it again (We need to replace as many of these bastards as possible this November.)
• Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoes coalfield economic development funding shift
• McAuliffe Tweaks State Budget, Upsetting Republicans
• Northam, Perriello debate Saturday in Fairfax
• Perriello adds tax increase for the wealthy to his Virginia gubernatorial platform (“Campaign says various proposals would bring it more than $1 billion to fund free education initiatives.”)
• Virginia is wrong to target a woman after an abortion (Handmaid’s Tale, anyone?)
• Virginia lawmakers split over off-shore drilling (“Democrats generally oppose drilling with the exception of Gov. McAuliffe, Sen. Warner” Great example of why I will absolutely NOT support either McAuliffe or Warner for president. They totally don’t “get it” when it comes to global climate chaos or energy/environment more broadly. Just abysmal.)
• How Bill Shine Has Been Implicated In Fox News’ Ongoing Legal Disasters (“The Murdoch family might be looking to replace Bill Shine as co-president of Fox News after multiple reports named Shine as being complicit in burying sexual harassment complaints by helping to coordinate smear campaigns against women who reported harassment, or pushing them to settle and sign nondisclosure agreements. Shine has also been tied to a racial discrimination and harassment lawsuit against the network, and has been named in a more recent lawsuit for surveilling the private communications of a former Fox host who sued the network for harassment.”)
• 2 Portsmouth sheriff candidates compete for Democrats’ nod in peculiar caucus
• “Eventually, Seatack will be gone”: Residents worry historic black community in Virginia Beach is disappearing
• Four Democratic progressives compete for Arlington County Board nomination (“After a final candidates forum planned for Wednesday, Democrats will choose their nominee in a three-part caucus.”)
• Editorial: Dana Bedden’s plagiarism didn’t cause his firing, but it’s still regrettable
• State reviewing Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation finances
• Climate March cause has link with record-breaking weather expected (“Temperatures to be in the low 90s, considered unusually warm for the end of April.” This is totally insane, and humans are 100% responsible.)
• Historically hot and humid weather likely for Saturday’s climate march in Washington (“It shouldn’t feel like this in April.” It’s appropriate that it’s wildly above normal temperatures for a march about global warming…but NOT in a good way!)